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Thursday, November 24, 2005

Even amongst supporters of the death penalty there's some disquiet over Clear Channel's KFI 640AM carrying a daily show called the Kill Tookie Hour until former Crips gang leader Stanley Williams is executed:

“One of the speakers [at a public protest in LA about the show], an elderly woman named Ms Herod, spoke. She is an advocate for the victims of gang violence. She spoke about the fact that a lot of people in South Central are not in favor of clemency for Tookie, however, she and many others, were disturbed by the circus-like atmosphere and party-like vibe created by Clear Channel regarding Tookie. She broke it down and reminded folks how things were in the days of lynching. She talked about how people celebrated the lynching of Black men and for these guys to go on the radio and act like they were concerned for the ‘hood and victims of gang violence was crazy.”

Williams has been nominated for the Nobel Peace prize for his work from his death row cell trying to steer kids away from gangs and a campaign calling for clemecy has been supported by Jamie Foxx and Snoop Dogg amongst others. Clear Channel is supposedly a responsible business.

Well, firstly, thank you for overestimating my wittage by about 100% - I'm more of a quarter wit - but if you'll take some guidance, the last two sentences were contextualising the story for people who might not be familiar with it.

As in: This is the background on the man who is being threatened with judicial murder. This is the background on the company who think its okay to turn that into a circus.

What Clear Channel is doing, as you suggest, would be totally irresponsible even if Williams had no support at all.

I completely agree. In fact, I just sent a letter to KFI condemning their disgusting programming. It's one thing to believe the death penalty is morally just. It is quite another to revel in killing another human being. That is crass and immoral.

I WAS a regular listener of Dr. Laura's show. I consider myself fairly conservative on most social matters. However, because KFI is the only station in my area that broadcasts her show, I will not be listening to her anymore.